Washington, D.C. (January 11, 2024) – Dr. Steven Camarota testified today before the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, addressing the impact of illegal immigrants on public services.  He presented new research findings, highlighting that illegal immigrants are a net fiscal drain – using more in services than they contribute in taxes. This is primarily attributed to their low average education levels, resulting in correspondingly low average incomes and tax payments. It also means a large share of illegal immigrants qualify for welfare programs, often receiving benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children. It is important to note that the fiscal drain they create is not due to laziness or fraud. Illegal immigrants have high rates of work, and they do pay some taxes, including income and payroll taxes.

“Government is largely funded by middle- and higher-income people, this is why cities worry so much about losing their middle-class tax base,” said Dr. Camarota, the Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research. “Allowing in large numbers of less-educated illegal immigrants comes with unavoidable costs for taxpayers.”

Watch the hearing and read Dr. Camarota’s testimony here.

Key points presented to the subcommittee:

• Illegal immigrants use more in services than they pay in taxes primarily because a large share have modest levels of education, resulting in relatively low average incomes and tax payments, along with significant use of means-tested programs and other government services.
• Prior research indicates that 69 percent of adult illegal immigrants have no education beyond high school, compared to 35 percent of the U.S.-born.
• Using the National Academies’ estimate of immigrants’ net fiscal impact by education level, we estimate that the lifetime fiscal drain (taxes paid minus costs) for each illegal immigrant is about $68,000.  
• Illegal immigrants make extensive use of welfare. Based on government data, we estimate that 59 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use one or more major welfare programs, compared to 39 percent of households headed by the U.S.-born.
• Based on their use rate of major welfare programs, we roughly estimate that illegal immigrants receive $42 billion in benefits, or about 4 percent of the total cost of the cash, Medicaid, food and housing programs examined in our study.
• Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of U.S.-born children.  Also, illegal immigrant children can receive school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal immigrants, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS and some asylum applicants), allowing receipt of the EITC.
• The high welfare use of illegal immigrant households is not explained by an unwillingness to work. In fact, 94 percent of illegal immigrant households have at least one worker, compared to only 73 percent of U.S.-born households.
• In addition to consuming welfare, illegal immigration makes significant use of public education. Based on average costs per student, the estimated 4 million children of illegal immigrants in public schools created $68.1 billion in costs in 2019. The vast majority of these children are U.S.-born.
• Use of emergency medical services and other care for the uninsured is another area where illegal immigrants create significant costs. Prior research indicates that illegal immigrants accounting for a little over one-fifth of the total uninsured population, creating costs of of roughly $7 billion annually.

Illegal immigrants do pay some taxes. We estimate that illegal immigrants in 2019 paid roughly $5.9 billion in federal income tax, $16.2 billion in Social Security tax and $3.8 billion in Medicaid taxes. However, as the net fiscal drain of $68,000 per person cited above indicates, these taxes are not nearly enough to cover the costs they create receive.